Many types of books kept in the home and office are cumbersome or difficult to store efficiently and, as a result, occupy an inordinate amount of space. This is especially true for large, softcover books, such as telephone directories, magazines, instruction manuals and the like, which cannot support themselves when stood on end. The problem also affects any books used in an area where shelf space for conventional vertical storage is unavailable. Typically, such books have been stored horizontally, occupying a quantity of shelf or drawer surface area equal to the product of their two greatest dimensions. When kept in this position, books are subject to damage, soilage and wear. They become unsightly. In addition, they are likely to be covered with other books and papers and thus become difficult to locate.
Heretofore, many devices have been proposed for improved storage of books. Some devices (U.S. Pat. No. 429,301 to Brown, 1890 June 3 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,501 to Simpson, 1979 Jan. 2, for example), involve hanging the book by a corner. This type of solution has been found lacking in several ways. First, cornerhanging places the book in an oblique orientation, failing to use the normally rectangular nature of available storage volume in the most efficient manner. Corner-hanging also has esthetic shortcomings. Because the pages are aligned diagonally to the force of gravity, this orientation causes the pages of the stored book to spread apart at the corners and appear ungainly.
Some other devices (U.S. Pat. No. 869,379 to Mills, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,034,221 to Dutton, for example), hang the book with its spine horizontal, but must employ two or more points of support. Thus, the user faces several steps to install the device and the book suffers from two or more penetrations of its surfaces or form. Also, such overcomplicated hanging systems require unnecessary quantities of time and/or materials to manufacture.
Much of the prior art requires modification of the book in some way before the device can be used. U.S. Pat. No. 869,379, for example, requires that holes be drilled through the entire book. U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,825 to Mahowald, calls for a slot to be cut through the binding. This kind of solution not only requires tools, but demands considerable time from the user. It thus denies the convenience and timesaving purposes for which it was intended.
Even some solutions requiring no tools for installation still call for penetration of the cover, pages or spine of the book. U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,501, for example, calls for driving a sharp metal point through the spine.
Another critical drawback of some prior art is its obtrusiveness when the book is opened for use. U.S. Pat. No. 1,034,221 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,626 to West, for example, both extend so far beyond the spine as to interfere with the opening of the book.
U.S. Pats. No. 3,174,626 and No. 4,418,825, in addition to excessive extension, are made of sharp-edged, die-stamped metal, and thus can easily damage furniture or countertops when the book is placed spine down on such surfaces and moved during use.
Several previous patents require either some structural qualities of the book to be hung, or addition of a separate structural element as a part of the device. U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,825 requires a book with a rigid spine in order to accommodate the embedded hanger. This case is an ironic twist to the stated purpose of the device, with the book having to support the device.
Most prior art defies the adage which cautions against "complex solutions to simple problems". U.S. Pat. 4,306,736 to Cournover et al., in particular, and to some degree all of the prior art sighted herein, require either multiple parts, joining the elements by bolts, rivets or welding, complex forming or machining, expensive die-stamping or inordinate amounts of materials for manufacture. Such complexity adds to both producer and consumer cost without a concomitant enhancement of utility.
The prior art bearing the closest resemblance to the invention is a device used in a completely different field. A small plastic hanger of approximately the same shape as the invention is used to merchandise stockings. Besides its application to an unrelated item, the invention is fundamentally different from the stocking hanger in that it remains with the item it hangs while the item is used, whereas the stocking hanger is incidental to the use of the stockings and is discarded.